Conversations with Blaze
by Space Mercutio
Summary: A guaranteed friend is a good thing to have, especially when it comes to matters of soul-searching and the like. Oh, and because they'll buy you drinks.


"Eyes and ears of a cat. I sense _everything_."

Blaze hopped lightly onto the brickwork that kept the hedge overflowing onto the sidewalk. She sat down beside Silver, oddly conspicuous in the night. Silver was the one who had awoken her in the first place—

_"Er, there aren't actually enough bedrooms. Tracking down criminals, you know, we just got the best we could find in a short time," Tails explained. "But—if you want—you can use my bedroom, Blaze."_

_ "No, I couldn't. You sleep in your own bed, seriously." Blaze began to line chairs up as a makeshift bed. "This'll do."_

_ As Tails and Sonic left for the bedrooms, Silver rubbed the toe of his boot into the carpet. "It's a little softer on the floor," he said. "I can take the chairs, I don't mind."_

_ A wry smile appeared on Blaze's face. "Between Tails and you, maybe chivalry isn't quite dead. Just dying." Silver looked down at his boots but smiled._

_ Twenty minutes later, there was a constant pain in Silver's back. The chair bed was not as comfortable as it seemed. He put one boot down on the ground. It made a soft noise as he put weight on it. Stepping down with the other foot, the heel scraped the side of the chair._

_ Silver froze. Blaze seemed to stir, but as far as he could tell, did not open her eyes. Had her ears been facing his direction before? He eased open the door and stepped into the night air, eager to be gone for now._

"I didn't mean to wake you up. Sorry about that," Silver said in the present.

A pause. Then Blaze asked, "Isn't this the part where we tell our life story? Or maybe just what's been going on lately?"

"Between allies, I think it's the latter. But, um, can we skip it?"

"I think so," Blaze said, and smiled. Silver thought smiling was the way she gave her thanks without saying it. He also reddened.

After a pause, Blaze said, "I'm going to get some drinks. Thirsty?" Silver nodded.

The pause did nothing to return Silver's face to its regular pigment, as she tossed him a cherry soda, blaring red in its packaging. "Very funny," he said in a tone that was supposed to be dry, but failed.

She took a purple-colored drink, but Silver couldn't see the name. Surprisingly, for all its caffeine, all the soda did was make him more tired as the night went on. He shifted his position on the granite to keep awake.

"For a guy who hasn't been on the best foot with Sonic, you sure were friendly to him today," Blaze said out of nowhere.

Tired, Silver let joking words come out of his mouth. "I had to look good in front of you, didn't I?"

Blaze was obviously taken aback. "Are you…are you serious?"

"No! No, no, not at all," Silver said quickly.

A short pause. Then, "But really."

"No," Silver said definitively, and it was true. Blaze seemed slightly relieved.

* * *

It was the next night. Had it become a habit? It was impossible to tell on the second day, Silver chided himself.

But light thoughts did not come easily. "Blaze?"

"Right here," she said, sitting beside him like yesterday.

"If you hurt a friend—not on purpose, of course—what do you do?"

"What do _I_ do, or what does one in general do?"

Silver thought. "You. What do you do?"

_A metal arm poked its way through the branches of the tree above, startling Silver. Then the body fell out._

_ "Oh, Shard. Wh…where's Larry?" When out, but needed for a mission, Shard and Larry Linx would often notify him together._

_ "That's the thing. He's…recuperating." Shard looked down, but with his expressionless forehead, it was impossible to see creases that meant worry or none that meant frustration._

_ "Recuperating? What happened?"_

_ "It takes a little explaining. We're chasing a serial killer, you know?"_

_ Silver nodded. "Wait—_I_ was going after a serial killer myself, with part of Team Fighters. What-?"_

_ "Yeah. It was the same one," Shard muttered. "Larry was in the front of us, and he was trying to get your attention. He got hit by a stray blow—"_

_ Silver was stunned. Granted, he'd only known Larry over the course of a few missions, but he was still counted as some kind of friend. Making it worse was Shard. Silver couldn't tell if Shard blamed him or not. He took a seat, face in gloves._

Outside of Silver's memories, Blaze said, "Well…I try to apologize, for starters."

"I can't—I mean, what do you do if you can't?" Silver nearly kicked himself for the slip of the tongue, but just looking at Blaze, he could tell she knew more than she let on. How much had she guessed?

"An issue of pride, or what?"

"N-no, it's not that—"

Blaze smiled mirthfully. "Men."

Silver was confused. "Men what?"

"They get so embarrassed over a few words, it's like they're turning into tomatoes."

"I…think you've just summed up the entire gender in a nutshell," Silver said, no less redder. It didn't help that Blaze had decided to continue last night by giving him a cherry soda. Oh well; he'd actually developed a liking for the taste.

* * *

Silver put his head down on the granite, and assumed a lying-down position. Face up to the sky, Silver put an arm out and made a fist, as if grabbing one of the stars.

"Never saw stars where I came from, only one or two," Silver mumbled.

"Future's that bad?" Blaze asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's perfect now. I think completing my mission changed the future for the better, but…"

"Doubting yourself again? You're not exactly steel-cored under the bravado, are you?"

"That's…one way to put it."

Another pause. Silver broke it by saying, "It's amazing there's so much evil under a sky this beautiful."

"It doesn't always happen by force," Blaze said.

"Do you think so?" Silver said.

"Well, yes. Not everyone robs a bank because they _want_ to."

Silver frowned. Blaze continued: "We might not agree on it, and that's fine."

He shook his head. "I don't know how you can do it just like that."

"Do what?"

"What you just said."

"Well, here's a tip," Blaze said, and grinned laughingly. "Not everyone has as much pride as you, Silver. Peacemaking 101."

"I'll never understand."

"Maybe not." Then, "Are you thirsty?"

Silver hopped down off the granite before she could. "I think it's my turn for drinks, actually. I'll be back."

Thank goodness for the loose change he found on the walk there, otherwise Silver wouldn't have been able to pay for the drinks. He got a cherry soda (okay, so what if he liked it a lot) and another soda that looked similar to Blaze's for the last two days. He hoped he was right.

When he returned, Blaze accepted the can he tossed her. "Well, not quite the same drink, but I won't die from it." Silver reddened at the fact that he'd gotten it wrong, but sat down and began drinking anyway.

"Did you make up with your friend, at least?" Blaze said after a sip.

"What? Oh, yeah."

_In fact, it was more like they had to. Silver had spent the unearthly hours of the morning with the rest of the Secret Freedom Fighters ending the menace of the aforementioned serial killer, and was planning on leaving a note very soon at the door of where Sonic and Tails were currently staying. Once done with the mission, he and Larry ended up at the back of the group, Larry seemingly fine._

_ "Are you still okay?" Silver asked. After all, it had only been a day._

_ "No. Got myself a concussion," Larry muttered, but a smile remained on his face._

_ "I—um." Silver scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry. For causing it."_

_ Larry lightly punched his arm. "You should feel sorrier. Chief wouldn't let me come, so I snuck out and told King, both Queens, and Jack to keep it quiet. I'll be lucky if they do."_

_ Silver thought of Elias. "You were never good with luck." He felt insensitive, making even small jokes while the guy beside him had a concussion. But Larry didn't seem to mind._

_ "I only hope there's a 'Broken Head Larry Linx' fund out there."_

"I might just teach you a thing or two about friendship yet," Blaze laughed, interrupting his flashback.

"You might," Silver allowed.

There wasn't any "See you tomorrow" said between them, and neither of them had thought of it. After all, Blaze had a dimension to attend to. It wasn't like they'd be running into each other frequently.

But Silver hoped they might. It was nice to have a guaranteed friend.


End file.
